Postgame: All About Iggy

The title of tonight’s postgame article would hold regardless if there was a milestone or not, because on the back of their captain, the Calgary Flames were able to triumph 3-2 over the St. Louis Blues. They probably won’t make the playoffs, but Jarome’s effort was impressive, and this night was all about 1000 for Flames fans…as in career point number for the captain, who got there by potting the winning goal late in the third period.

What Happened

A rather pedestrian first period had the Blues scoring the only goal, thanks to a Matt D’Agostini goal on the powerplay, as he’d hammer home a rebound just in front of the blue paint for his 21st of the season. There wasn’t a whole lot going on at even strength in the opening 20 minutes, with St. Louis coming out ahead on the scoreboard, on the shot clock and on Ken’t scoring chances.

Calgary started to tilt things a little bit in the second period, and Jaroslav Halak had to come up large a few times, especially a couple times on the captain. The Flames had a some chances on the powerplay had them rolling, but it was the Blues who would score the next goal, and it came on the tail end of a man advantage of their own. As a powerplay was expiring, Kevin Shattenkirk went deep and threaded a gorgeous pass from the right corner in front to David Backes, who would tap in an easy one for his 29th on the year. But shortly thereafter, the Iginla show would start. On a nice pass from Alex Tanguay, Iginla was fed in the slot and went roof on the backhand for his 38th and had the Flames within one heading into the third period.

Things were fairly even in the final frame, and both teams had some opportunities, and after a Blues giveaway in the neutral zone, the Flames would even things up at 8:01. On a two-on-one, Tanguay would feed Iginla, who would feed Tanguay right back and an assist would be good for point 999 for Jarome; it was also good for Tanguay’s 20th of the season. Cue the moment at 14:57, as Iginla (who was very, very strong) somehow got behind the St. Louis D, and guess who’d find him…Tanguay’s pass sprung the captain down the right wing, and he’d make no mistake for the millenium point…his 39th goal and 1000th career point was a massive one, and Calgary would finish off an impressive 3-2 win.

One Good Reason…

…why the Flames won? Well, I’ll keep with the theme of the post…Jarome Iginla. He really did take the team on his back, and I thought he had one of his best games of the season, and he was the largest reason why Calgary won this hockey game. The Flames were out of it in the first period, good in the second, and even in the third…but they were the ones who got the last goal, and Iginla was the best Flames player on the ice.

Red Warrior

With an honorable mention to Daymond Langkow, we’ll go with that Iggy guy again. Iginla is a first ballot Hall of Famer, the best player to ever don a Calgary jersey, and a class act. Seeing him get to 1000 the way he did was very fitting, as this was Jarome’s best game in a long, long time. He was dominant from start to finish, he took the game over at a key time, and scored the winning goal. 77 players have reached the 1000 point mark, and Iginla is very fitting of being in that company.

Sum It Up

We’ll bring it back to reality a tad here to finish things off. The Flames won, which is nice, but the Blackhawks also won which leaves us with this…

Elimination Number: 1.5

The road to a playoff spot for Calgary is improbable and will likely end soon. That said, there’s something to take from a team who keeps finding ways to earn points. Sunday is another winnable game against a baaaad Colorado team, so while it’s likely over, it’s still not technically over.

I actually liked Linden as a player. He was a gentleman like Iggy, but no way in hell was he ever comparable as a player. Iggy is a first ballot hall of famer, while Linden would only be considered on the second. In his prime Iggy was a monster, who could score prodigiously regardless of the fact he never ever had an elite level talent to play with (sorry, Conroy, with much respect).

So piss off, Todd. You’re more of joker than most Canucks fans, and I would know: I live in B.C.

Not to feed the trolls, but…if you watched the post-Linden festivities during his final game in Vancouver a couple years back, it was actually Linden who, when he shook hands with Iggy, said, “You’re the best player in the game.”

Iggy, in his post-game interview when asked by Scott Oake what Linden had said, played it off – “no big deal, it was between me and him”.

Putting aside Toad’s delusional bluster, where do you think we g o from here guys?

The Flames had a solid second half, but still did not show themselves to be a real cup contender. They will only get older collectively next year, and with Langkow back our salary cap situation looks scary (don’t get me wrong; I wan’t him back one more year even at that salary).

Hopefully, Kotalik will get lost in Siberia next year, while a delusional GM takes one of Hagman or Stajan off our hands for a seventh round draft pick.

Iggy should finish his career here, while Kipper and Regher should be actively shopped for a top six forward. I would love a Regher for Stastny trade even with the latter coming at a 6.7m cap hit.

For god sakes, do not overpay for Glencross, especially with Langkow coming back next year. Langkow is a better top six forward than Glencross even at 35. He can take Glenny’s spot killing penalties and play head to head against the toughest competition without making costly mistakes like Curtis. I truly believe Langkow can be a good second liner and a great third liner for us next year.

We should also keep Bouma full-time next year and let him progress as a player. He was far too hesitant and not very physical in his short tenure with the big club. He should be encouraged to bring the pain next year, as he has done throughout his young career.

Nemisz and Backlund should make up our third line.

A first line center should be our premier concern, whether it be via free agency (Richards, in which case ownership buys out Kotalik and buries Hagman in the minors) or trade (Stastny, Spezza)

On the defensive front, I think the flames need to be bold enough to give both Brodie and Erixon a shot at the big club for the 4-6 spots.

One of Bouwmeester or Regher has to be traded for the long term future of the club. We seriously need to leverage one or both for young, top-six forwards. This may require packaging them with draft picks, but I wouldn’t mind for a young stud up front, as Brodie, Erixon, and Breen give us great defensive depth for the future.

In other words, try to build a competitive club next year, but with an eye to 2012/13 when we will have a lot of salary coming off the books and can really rebuild this team into a contender.

Plus, our prospects are not all mediocre. Howse has real potential to be a threat at the NHL level if he continues to progress, while Reinhart in my mind may be our future answer to Langkow. I’m serious. Whenever I see the kid play, he is playing tough comp all night, and still manages to be a plus player. He finished plus 30 this year for Kootenay, with 34 snipes. He was on a tear until the club traded for Eakin as a first line center, which led to nothing but brutal defensive zone starts for Reinhart.

Todd only makes comments to stir things up. Linden’s last game, a 7-2 trashing at the hands of the Flames where Iggy scored #50. On CBC across the nation, Linden told Iggy “Your the best player in the world.”

Congrats to Iggy, only the 77th player in NHL history to hit 1000 points. Only the 18th player in NHL history to hit 1000 points with one team. This guy is a warrior, heart of a lion.

Langkow looked great, like he hasn’t missed a beat. Had an assist, moved from the fourth line to the first line. We have Langkow all year, we are in a playoff spot.

The rot starts at the very top with this franchise and the multiple “Heads of the Hydra” must be lopped off.

I keep seeing postings regarding player movements etc. but this just treating the symptom of the disease. Quite frankly this is just a reactionary approach to rectifying a long standing dysfunctional organization.

Facts are facts that we have a Professional Sports Franchise that has advanced past the first round of the playoffs just once in the last 22 years. If that is not a sad & sobering indictment of the Flames ineptitude I don’t know what is…unless you aspire to be the Los Angeles Clippers or the Detroit Lions of NHL hockey in perpetuity. In any other business, heads would roll until competent executives/managers can be put into place. As mentioned before, if the owners are truly committed to winning championships then people who have the knowledge and skill set needed to achieve this must be put into place. Just like s**t, success also rolls downhill.

K-Squared as President is an utter joke…if Murray Edwards has somehow “sold his soul to him”, then at least bury him in the marketing/PR department as far away from anything resembling Hockey Operations in the Saddledome. Feaster is just a smooth talking, glorified bagman or “yes” man depending on the day. As for Butter, having Kotalik out on the ice for the PP against Anaheim – need I say more…Flames Scouting = Double Facepalm.

Like our Politicians, I have little hope that the Owners have the fortitude to Clean House and truly structure this team from the top down to achieve success year in and year out. Instead of blowing 6-7 million next year burying Kotalik/Hagman/Stajan in the KHL or AHL, open the bank and pay proven Hockey Minds who will not make 6-7 million dollar mistakes on the ice, or have said owners in the postion of paying some 3 head coaches at the same time.

Totally agree, but I think the Flames made some positive moves in that fashion over the summer and with the firing of D Sut. Nevertheless, I agree our scouting needs to improve drastically. Hopefully the Flames address this issue in the summer.

I am ambivalent about Feaster. Could take him or leave him at this point. Great drafting, however, is not representative of a GM, although he may exert influence as to what types of players are to be given priority. Good scouts are what perrennial contenders are made of, and we just don’t have them.

However, that being said, there has been improvement, as the second and third round signings of Howse and Reinhart suggest over the last couple of years.

Totally agree, but I think the Flames made some positive moves in that fashion over the summer and with the firing of D Sut. Nevertheless, I agree our scouting needs to improve drastically. Hopefully the Flames address this issue in the summer.

I am ambivalent about Feaster. Could take him or leave him at this point. Great drafting, however, is not representative of a GM, although he may exert influence as to what types of players are to be given priority. Good scouts are what perrennial contenders are made of, and we just don’t have them.

However, that being said, there has been improvement, as the second and third round signings of Howse and Reinhart suggest over the last couple of years.

Totally agree, but I think the Flames made some positive moves in that fashion over the summer and with the firing of D Sut. Nevertheless, I agree our scouting needs to improve drastically. Hopefully the Flames address this issue in the summer.

I am ambivalent about Feaster. Could take him or leave him at this point. Great drafting, however, is not representative of a GM, although he may exert influence as to what types of players are to be given priority. Good scouts are what perrennial contenders are made of, and we just don’t have them.

However, that being said, there has been improvement, as the second and third round signings of Howse and Reinhart suggest over the last couple of years.

I honestly believe Iginla has reached 1000 points in a losing season. Making the playoffs depends on so many things, and the Flames are not up to snuff. Making it to the first round is something that is hopeful at best – even the Cinderella run, we were in 6th and had some key players.

This season is not it. We need to dump Kotalik, we need to dump Sore Itch, we need to dump some of these overpaid players. The “role players” we have are injured and even the return of Lanks cannot save our season. Nobody will take Bouwmeester – SOMEBODY had to score on the Panthers, this is the same with Toronto (Ian White and Mats Stajan). Their overinflated values at the time gave us reason to spend on them, but the veil has been lifted. No other GMs will trade on them, barring a total mental brainlapse.

All we can hope for is that Darryl becomes the GM of the Oilers, and that he drives them into the ground.

Good for Iginla I’ve always like his game. That being said no way in hell Iginla is a HOF player. No ring no HOF. Glad he got that with the flames since I’m smeeling a trade request at seasons end. 2 Olympic gold medals and no CUP .

Iginla, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is a HHoF first ballot player. The only thing he hasn’t won is a Stanley Cup and that’s only because they didn’t have instant replay. That doesn’t matter though because his accomplishments far outweigh that particular criticism. Not to mention his career isn’t over yet. This is a 40 goal campaign for him.

Happy to see Iggy hit another milestone, honestly not a nicer guy in the entire league.

I’m not taking anything away for Iggy. But first ballot is a stretch, yes his career isn’t over yet but unless he pulls a Ray Bourque not likely he will we the cup. Look at the short list your buddy FlamesinHamilton put up are they first ballot HHOF? How but Mark Reechi ?

wow, what an embarrassing statement, especially since I’m an Oilers fan too.

Iginla has dominated in international play, at the junior level and the NHL level. He counts 2 Gold medals in his resume along with the distinction of passing the puck to create the “golden goal” in the 2010 Olympics. Iginla has also won the Art Ross, Maurice Richard, Lester Pearson awards and has been nominated for the Hart and King Clancy. He also has been in the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2009 all-star games and bowed out of the 2010 one for family reasons.

With or without a cup ring he should be a first ballot all-star. No question.

Congrats on 1000 points Iggy. I love to hate you, but I always respect you!

“Good for Iginla I’ve always like his game. That being said no way in hell Iginla is a HOF player. No ring no HOF. Glad he got that with the flames since I’m smeeling a trade request at seasons end. 2 Olympic gold medals and no CUP .”

Usually players have to win the cup to be in the HOF. I’m guessing that almost all the first ballot HOF won the cup. Thanks for listing ten players out of how many? Like I wrote I like Iginla and glad he was able to reach 1000 and counting.